Zephaniah Monroe is remembered as a "strong black woman"

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Zephaniah Monroe is remembered as a "strong black woman"

By Gerry Hostetler – September 8, 2011

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We’re losing members of this group daily; those we know as the “Greatest Generation.” They were the ones who lived with “Make it do, wear it out or do without” – the people of the World War II era.

Zephaniah Barrett “Zep” Monroe died August 23, 2011 at Presbyterian Hospital of complications of a stroke. She was 78 and a native of Fort Mill, S.C.

She graduated from Huntersville Colored School, which was the first school for children of former slaves and tenant farmers. It has been known as Torrence-Lytle High School since 1953.

Zep had worked 50 years in the poultry and textile industries and enjoyed a reputation as an excellent and industrious worker. She is the last of her original family’s 16 children.

She had four of her own – Henry, twins Carl and Charles, and the late Ralph. She also helped raise several nieces and nephews and cared for an aging mother, and she did all that mostly as a single parent. She was married to the late Charles Monroe.

Her “magic shoes”

Besides her full-time job and raising a family, Zep earned extra income by sewing, mending, and baking cakes and pies. The children were always well fed, well dressed and well mannered, the family said. They were also well disciplined, and Zep had seemingly “magic shoes” that could track down whichever one she needed at the time.

“She had her own family to maintain,” said nephew Eugene Barrett, “but she made sure we were educated and had food and clothes. A strong black woman raised us, and she made sure we went to church.

“She was one of the strongest people I’ve ever known in my life,” Eugene said. “Once she decided to do something, it was a done deal. She was a cornerstone for her sisters, brothers, kids, neighbors and the neighborhood. She was a blessing to us.”

“She was always a tough cookie,” said son Henry Barrett. “She would walk from our street to Oaklawn Avenue to catch a bus to Carriker Poultry out on Central Avenue. The first time I ever saw her cry was the morning I left for the Air Force.”

“She brought us up the best way she could,” said niece Margaret Terry, whom Zep raised from the time she was six weeks old. “We would sit and talk ,and she’d bake cakes for us. We wouldn’t have made it without her.”

Mother of our neighborhood

“It was dark when she went to work and dark when she came home from the hosiery mill,” said son Charles Monroe Jr. “She had no time for hobbies -- we were basically her life. She loved to sew for people. She was a good seamstress and made most of her clothes.”

Zep may not have had time for hobbies, but she did love vanilla ice cream and a cold Pepsi Cola, Charles said. She also in later years loved to sit on the front porch of her Genesis Park home.

“That porch looks so empty now,” said neighbor Georgetta Weathers, who had known Zep since 1980. “She was like the mother of our neighborhood. She taught us how to pay for our burial by putting back a little every month, to hold on to some money for a rainy day. She was a very good inspiration to everybody here.”

Amanda Bright, a neighbor for 17 years, said, “She educated us about life, how to pay your house off and to be a lender, not a borrower. She helped us raise our children and made sure they got on the bus every morning. She was a precious jewel.”

To those who knew her, Zephaniah Monroe was indeed a precious and priceless jewel.

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Editor's note: This is our series called Lives That Matter. Written by Charlotte writer Gerry Hostetler, this weekly feature will profile individuals, recently deceased, who had a positive impact on those around them. Email editor@qcitymetro.com.